>Have you brought this to the attention of the European Beareau for >Lesser-Used Languages In Dublin? They are the co-ordinating arm for the >Mercator Project, which was established by the European Commission of the EEC >under the Kuypers Resolution of 1987. They should be able to help. You have >the support of the Gaels in Dallas, if there is anything we can do..... ----- keeping comment to just 25 lines, as it is all in English ---- Perhaps the most effective way anyone not living in a Celtic country can help is to join a _language_ organization based in our homeland. That will strengthen the hand of workers over here. After all, a big group with international membership is more likely to be listened to in this, the age of impatience, than a struggling village community, which may have its hands full trying to build a school or a factory. Whether the language organization is Welsh, Irish or Scottish Gaelic really does not matter. Best of all, would be if people combined the act of joining a group far away with the act of joining one involved in the same kind of activities nearby. For example, my company, EGT, is a member of SSILA (Soc. for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas). Victor Golla is our contact in SSILA. Write to Victor (mention my name, if you want). Ask him if he would send you SSILA Bulletin #2. I also belong to a number of lists run by Gary S.Trujillo, serving the endangered nations of the world. Gary's lists are open to the public. Great place to start is NATIVE-L! Just forward the following command, as text of a MAIL or TELL message, to LISTSERV@TAMVM1: SUBSCRIBE NATIVE-L Yourfirstname Yourfamilyname. One question I like to ask, when someone says they want to support the Irish language, is this: "What practical support do you give speakers of the minority language closest to where you are living right now?" If the answer to that is silence, I am tempted to respond, in turn, with silence, out of respect for the silenced ones in the country of the enquirer (= the voices he/she seemingly does not hear). Marion Gunn MGUNN@IRLEARN.UCD.IE